


Te no Hira no Yuki ~Snow in the Palm of Your Hand~

by koinuchan81



Series: Takumi-kun Series Perfect Edition vol.1 [5]
Category: Takumi-kun Series
Genre: BL, Boys' Love, I Like This Couple, Izumi likes a strong man, Light Novel, M/M, No Takumi here, aww aren't they cute, original by Gotoh Shinobu, translation of a Japanese novel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-28
Updated: 2020-04-28
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:47:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,274
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23893303
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/koinuchan81/pseuds/koinuchan81
Summary: After Yoshizawa stops him from hurting Takumi, Takabayashi Izumi falls for him hard. Will Yoshizawa ever be brave enough to make the first move? And who is this sleazy guy who keeps hitting on Izumi?
Relationships: Takabayashi Izumi/Yoshizawa Michio
Series: Takumi-kun Series Perfect Edition vol.1 [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1124238
Kudos: 6





	Te no Hira no Yuki ~Snow in the Palm of Your Hand~

“Apologize, Takabayashi-kun. Apologize to Hayama-kun!”

Takabayashi Izumi stared up at the lanky Yoshizawa Michio as he was scolded unrelentingly.

He couldn’t believe this was the same Yoshizawa Michio that he knew.

Izumi just stood there, silent, so Michio pulled him by the wrist until he was standing in front of Hayama Takumi.

“Now apologize!” he ordered in a voice that rang like a bell in the darkness.

*****

….That was probably when he fell in love.

Fell in love with Michio’s strict gaze as he sought justice. Izumi, with his ridiculously high pride and obstinance that everyone had trouble dealing with, fell in love with the clear, forceful words that carried him away.

He was surprised at himself for being so blankly accepting of it all, but somehow felt like his heart was burning. He was surprised that he didn’t complain when Michio grabbed him tightly by the wrist and pulled him down the dark path to the dorm. He felt that maybe, just maybe, he could stop hating himself, could maybe come to like himself, instead. It was happy, and bittersweet, and his heart and wrist burned with it, and it made him want to cry.

*****

“Crash! Clang! Clang!”

The bucket tumbled loudly down the concrete staircase.

“Geez! What the hell are you doing!?”

Takabayashi Izumi squared his shoulders and stomped down the staircase after the battered tin bucket, kicking it with his blue sneaker when he reached it.

The bucket was destined for the trash heap. It was the once-weekly intensive cleaning day today. While the image of an all-boys’ boarding school might be that it’s dirty, the truth is that due to daily after-school cleaning, it was actually pretty clean.

Shidou Academy High School was a private boys’ school that looked like it was just plopped down in the middle of nowhere on the side of a forested mountain.

The bucket flew through the air and landed in a short tree by the edge of the woods.

Rustle!

The leaves waved madly, and after a bit, the bucket was spit out the bottom.

“Just like me,” Takabayashi Izumi whispered, sighing before sitting down on the concrete stairs.

The boy who usually kicked up a fuss over even the hint of a stain on his uniform wasn’t in the mood to worry about his dark blue PE jersey now.

Having been built to leave as much of the forest undisturbed as possible, it took as much as ten minutes to walk between some of the buildings. Despite this, the three main buildings were all lined up, separated by only ten meters or so. The biggest of the three was the strangely shaped Building One. Takabayashi Izumi sat now on the lowest step of the concrete north-western emergency staircase, depressed and hugging his knees to his chest. He rested his soft white cheek (like a girl’s) on his knees and gazed absently out at the abandoned courtyard.

“He doesn’t understand…”

Yoshizawa Michio was reserved, quiet, good-natured, kind, and never said a bad word about anyone. Perhaps it was because of this personality of his (maybe it was why he came across as weak, as well), that their relationship wasn’t making any progress at all.

“Idiot.”

They didn’t say anything. Didn’t do anything. They just spent every evening alone in their room, awkwardly silent.

How many days had passed like this?

“For whose sake did I disband my little bodyguard club? He doesn’t get it. How I feel…”

His chest hurt.

“What’s up, Takabayashi, ditching cleaning duty?” a voice suddenly asked.

Izumi cleared the expression off his face. Just like an idol who must always have a smile on their face when there’s a camera around, it was sad how fast he could make himself smile.

If their eyes met, only the most severe person wouldn’t be drawn in by Izumi’s beauty. Huge eyes framed by long eyelashes. Translucent pale skin. A lovely, slim, girlish figure. He stood out, especially in a boys’ school. He was used to it. Expected it. But, upon seeing who had spoken, his smile fell.

“Gii…”

Since the incident on move-in day, Gii’s treatment of Izumi had changed. There wasn’t even a hint of the harsh rejection from that day in his gaze. In fact, he almost looked affectionate. Since the day Izumi had given up on Gii, Gii had begun to accept Izumi.

Saki Giichi, nicknamed Gii.

Attractive enough that even a beauty like Izumi would fall for him at first sight, Gii was the celebrity of the school, but his face wasn’t the only good thing about him.

“It’s still cleaning time, right? Don’t laze around too much,” Gii said teasingly, moving to walk by.

“Wait!” Izumi hurriedly jumped up and grabbed the sleeve of Gii’s jersey. When he got close, he could smell ash, so Gii must have been on his way back from the incinerator.

“Hn?” Gii turned around, curious. “What’s up?”

“Save me, Gii! It’s half your fault, so do something!” Izumi clung to Gii desperately.

“Hey, hey. You sound like you’re about to cry. What’s wrong?” Gii patted Izumi on the head, as though to comfort him. It felt like his dad when he patted him and called him a ‘good boy’…

He felt a presence, and when he raised his eyes away from Gii’s chest, he noticed Yoshizawa Michio standing mid-step on the landing of the emergency staircase, staring at Izumi and Gii blankly.

Izumi and Michio’s eyes met, and Izumi hurriedly moved away from Gii.

Michio opened his mouth to speak just then. “No, you didn’t come back from throwing away the bucket, so I got worried something happened to you… Sorry to intrude.”

Michio turned on his heel and ran back up the stairs, head bowed.

“Yoshizawa! Don’t misunderstand!”

When Gii called out to him, Michio stopped and looked sadly back at Izumi.

“I get it,” he answered thinly, disappearing back into the school building.

“…Just great…” Izumi sank down to the floor. Since Izumi had a crush on Gii for so long, one wrong move and a simple ‘don’t misunderstand’ wouldn’t repair the damage.

“You really do like Yoshizawa, huh,” Gii said happily, crouching down beside Izumi.

Izumi turned towards him, bitterly. “Don’t just laugh, all carefree. He definitely misunderstood,” Izumi complained, grabbing a rock from by his feet and lobbing it at the concrete wall.

The stone bounced off the wall and rolled unsteadily to the ground.

“First, I’m rejected by you, now Yoshizawa. I’m always rejected by the people I like. I’m fed up with it.”

This always happened. Anyone he thought he wanted to have around him disappeared, as though they had been waiting for the right time. It was especially cruel this time, because he had thought he finally had something special.

It was like a snowflake that landed on the palm of your hand. The beauty of it captures your heart, but the more you wish for it to stay, the faster it melts and disappears.

“When exactly did Yoshizawa reject you? He said he came looking for you because you didn’t come back, so doesn’t that mean he just wants to be by your side? He fell in love at first sight on the day of the entrance ceremony last year.”

“I don’t know anything about that.” It was the first he’d heard of it. Yoshizawa hadn’t told him.

“What, you didn’t notice?”

“How would I!? Yoshizawa doesn’t really stand out that much! Anyway, at the time, I already…”

I already liked Gii.

“In any case, he’s liked you since last year. You feel the same about each other. Isn’t that a good thing?”

“No, it isn’t! Sometimes things don’t go well, even if you both feel the same!”

The more you like them, the harder it is…

“Don’t say that. I’m sorry for speaking thoughtlessly. You want my help, right? Okay, what do you want me to do?”

“Well, I did, until just then.” Izumi stood up decisively. “But I don’t now. He doesn’t understand. Anything. Not a thing.”

He was running away under the cover of kindness. That’s all he could think, seeing the way Yoshizawa had acted just now.

“Won’t you regret giving up?”

“But at times like that, shouldn’t a lover get angry? Start yelling about cheating and such.”

“That’s probably true. He was so cool when he pulled you away that time before.” Gii stood up and showily put his hands on his hips. “He’s at fault for not making any advances. He’s not strong enough to take the next step. If he really liked you, he would make the first move,” he said, as though reading from a script.

Izumi huffed a breath. “It would have been easier if I had stayed in love with you. You have good intuition, as usual. I don’t mean it in a weird way, but I’m jealous of Takumi-kun. …Sorry, I don’t really think Yoshizawa is the only one in the wrong.”

Gii bent down to peer up at Izumi’s bowed head.

“You’re a pretty considerate guy, too. Too much so for Yoshizawa to handle, maybe. When push comes to shove, he’s a reliable guy, but the problem is that push isn’t coming to shove. He’s too tolerant.”

“If I made the first move, it would probably be fixed immediately, but I can’t help but feel that that’s not the right way to do it. Maybe I’m just being selfish.”

“No, you’re not.” Gii’s encouragement was like an anti-anxiety drug. Izumi felt his irritation start to fade away with that one phrase.

“I can say it now that it’s long over, but I never felt this painful with you, no matter how you treated me.”

His heart had always been steadfast. No matter how often he was rejected by Gii, he had continued to like him. Even though he hadn’t been accepted by him at all, Izumi had liked him so much. It was safe, in a way, knowing that he would always be rejected. Now, the feelings were mixed with doubt and regret. Was it really okay to keep liking this person…?

But he hated the way he was when he had liked Gii. He didn’t question that he was the one person in the world for Gii, and he was arrogant and overconfident enough that even he was disgusted with himself, looking back on it now. It was no wonder people hated him.

“You don’t get it,” Gii looked affectionately exasperated with Izumi. “In any case, I’ll be cheering you on in your first love,” he said.

“Eh…?” Izumi looked up at Gii in surprise.

“Bye.” Gii didn’t give Izumi a chance to respond before waving and making his way around the corner towards the courtyard.

Izumi just stood there, trying to process the situation. Gii had said something really strange to Izumi, who had liked Gii for so long.

“First love…?”

*****  
By the time he got back to the classroom, his classmates had already finished up and were getting ready to go home.

“Izumi-kun, thanks for taking out the trash!” somebody called out to him. Izumi walking by always attracted people’s attention. He’d met with all sorts of gazes. Amongst these, the quiet gaze that followed him intently belonged to the person that he yearned for the most.

Yoshizawa Michio. He didn’t stand out much, but he was second only in skill to the captain of the archery club, Kudou Yousuke, but he was younger, so he may in fact become the stronger of the two. During the preliminaries for the summer Prefectural tournament, he would beat out the third years, and be able to participate. The participants were chosen on ability, after all. If only he had the political prowess that Gii did, everybody would know his true strength. Nobody would be able to make light of him then.

“What are you doing, Yoshizawa?” Izumi asked in surprise upon seeing Michio standing at Izumi’s desk, binding his stack of books together with a book strap.

“What? I thought it would be difficult to get all your stuff together after you got back, so…”

“I’m not a baby. I can do things for myself,” Izumi looked sternly up at Michio, who was at least a head taller than him.

“That’s right. You’re roommates, and Takabayashi’s stuff is light. You should just carry it back to your room for him, Yoshizawa-kun,” Yamashita Kiyohiko, the ex-leader of the Takabayashi Izumi bodyguard unit, chimed in. After the bodyguard unit was disbanded, he had taken it upon himself to form a fan club instead.

“That’s true,” Michio laughed lightly. “I’ll take this back for you, then,” he decided.

\---Why!?

Izumi shook with anger. Why didn’t he say no!? It wasn’t Yoshizawa’s duty to do such things! He didn’t even realize he was being teased, and just went along with anything and everything! Pushover! Weakling!

“Thanks for nothing, idiot!” Izumi grabbed his belongings out of Michio’s hands. “Don’t worry about other people, and go to your club! You’ll get in trouble if you’re late!” He hit Michio on the back with the six centimeter stack of books.

The resulting thump sounded painful, and Michio’s face screwed up for a moment. Izumi gasped, but Michio smiled immediately.

“All right. I’ll go. Bye.” He picked up his own belongings and left the classroom with his usual good-natured expression.

“You should have let him carry your stuff, Takabayashi. It’s not like you to let him go empty-handed.” Yamashita sounded annoyed.

“But he also never says no, no matter what’s asked of him.” At some point, the class representative, Nogawa Masaru, had showed up at Izumi’s side. “So people use him. I feel bad for him. He should stand up for himself more.”

“But you’re the one who put him on the pain-in-the-ass ‘beautifying committee’, Nogawa,” Izumi said, and Nogawa Masaru coughed conspicuously.

“No, well, that was because there was nobody else who could do it. Anyway, didn’t you make him do all the work on move-in day?”

“Yeah…” Izumi couldn’t deny it. He had been selfish and made Michio do all sorts of things. Even if he stood up for him now, it wouldn’t erase the past. Just like he couldn’t erase the fact that he used to like Gii. He felt indebted to Michio. So, he was left dangling, unable to blame Michio for not taking the next step. Even though he wanted him to. He wanted him so much it was driving him crazy.

(Don’t call it divine punishment…)

Izumi furrowed his brow and closed his eyes forlornly.

*****

The archery range behind the auditorium was beautiful, with green stretching as far as the eye could see beyond the targets. The members all lined up and let their arrows fly at the captain’s command, but his weren’t hitting the center of the target like usual.

Michio heaved a sigh of relief when a fifteen minute break was called.

“Yoshizawa, your posture is weird. Did you hurt your back?”

He had tried to be careful not to give it away, but his friend Katakura Toshihisa had figured it out, watching him from behind.

“I was just careless. Is it that noticeable in my stance?” he asked Toshihisa in response.

“Well, yeah. Not enough for the others to notice, though.”

Michio was relieved to hear that. The preliminaries for the summer tournament would be held after Golden Week at the beginning of May. The underclassmen looked tiny lined up with the older students, Michio thought. It wasn’t really fair, but they couldn’t compete with the number of upperclassmen there were. When there were fewer places in the tournament than there were third year students, the first and second year students had no chance to compete.

But this year was different. There were five places in the tournament, and only four third years. The preliminary tournament that had always been only for show was real this year. Of course, if they just waited patiently for their third year, then everyone had a chance to go, but having your first big competition also be your last meant that any experience gained had nowhere to be put into effect afterwards. He didn’t want to lose any of his value in the club’s eyes at this important time.

“If you had perfect aim even when you’re not feeling well, that would be annoying.” Toshihisa scratched his head. “I guess a beginner like me isn’t suited for this. I’m more at home grilling fish cakes.”

“Your family makes fish cakes, right?”

“Stop by if you’re ever in Sendai.” Toshihisa bowed exaggeratedly, causing Michio to huff in laughter. 

A student standing off to the side caught Michio’s attention as he guffawed. He was standing on the other side of the long metal fence that surrounded the archery range. He was tall, had striking enough features that they stood out even this far away, and for some reason he was staring at them.

The club captain, Kudou Yousuke, approached him, and they seemed to be having a friendly conversation, but then Kudou raised his head and looked around the range.

“Hey, Yoshizawa! Come here for a second!” He beckoned towards Michio.

“What is it?”

“Yoshizawa, you’re roommates with Schauspielerin, right?”*

“Huh?”

“Oh, sorry. I called him by a nickname,” Kudou laughed. “I mean the lovely Takabayashi Izumi-kun.”

“Yeah, I am…”

That was pretty long and complicated for a nickname, wasn’t it? What language was that?

“Does he have somebody special?” Michio had never seen this student who seemed so interested in Izumi before. Shidou Academy wasn’t a huge school. There were fewer than two hundred students in each grade, a little over five hundred in the whole school. And it wasn’t a normal school, where you only see each other at school. Here, everyone was together twenty-four/seven. Even new first year students were recognizable after a couple of months. But somehow, Michio thought he had never seen this third year student before.

\---Who was he?

“Even if we are roommates, I don’t know such private information,” Michio answered.

“What about Gii?” Kudou asked, as though he had suddenly remembered. “He was head over heels for Gii, right?”

“Who’s Gii?” The third year asked. He didn’t know Gii!? This was getting stranger by the minute.

“Oh, you haven’t met Gii yet, Itami? He’s the class rep for 2-D, and the thoroughbred of Shidou. I really don’t know why someone like him decided to study abroad at a middle-of-nowhere school like this.”

“That’s a pretty strange name. Is he Japanese?”

“I think he’s… three quarters Japanese? His real name is Saki Giichi. Shortened to Gii. There was quite an uproar at the entrance ceremony. Him lined up with Schauspielerin. He’s very attractive, and was still rather boyish at the time. Even the straight guys were all entranced. They were all the school was talking about, those two. I don’t think there have been two such beautiful boys in one grade since Shidou was founded. In other words, we were in heaven.”

“Heh. Impressive.” Itami’s eyes were twinkling. Michio hated that kind of eyes.

*****

Michio returned to his room after stopping for a quick dinner in the student cafeteria.

“Welcome back, Yoshizawa,” Izumi said when he entered, hands busy straightening up his homework on his desk.

“I’m home,” Michio directed towards Izumi’s slender back, setting his own belongings on his desk. He could see Izumi’s shoulder blades sticking out from his thin back through the dark blue vest he was wearing. That line was so beautiful, Michio was left battling the impulse to embrace him.

“Yoshizawa, what about dinner?”

“I just ate.”

“Were you on time for your club?”

“Ah, yeah. Thanks to you.”

It was quiet for a moment.

Izumi stilled his hands, then spun around in his chair, staring up at Michio.

“I’m sorry about this afternoon. Hitting your back like that. I regret it.” His big, beautiful eyes clouded over.

“That… It’s not a big deal. I’m fine,” Michio said gratefully.

“Yoshizawa, do you hate me?”

“Eh!? Of course not!” Michio responded automatically, then turned red.

“Yoshizawa!”

Izumi was unable to contain his joy, and hugged Michio. He stood up on his toes to reach, and wrapped his arms around the tall Michio’s neck. However, Michio was still reeling from his earlier battle, and combined with the suddenness of the action, he ended up pushing Izumi away.

Izumi was astonished to be pushed away so immediately.

To be rejected so directly.

“Are you still misunderstanding what happened on the staircase…?”

Michio was confused. He was confused, and he didn’t know how to respond. He was completely helpless at relationships. The lovely, lovely boy in front of him was his treasure. Just having Izumi in front of him was enough to completely derail his train of thought.

“No, no, there’s no misunderstanding…”

Izumi was listening to him seriously.

Those eyes that threatened to suck him in staring up at him so intently made him feel hot, like he was burning up.

His heart was racing, and it felt like all of his blood had suddenly changed directions. He wasn’t even sure he understood what was coming out of his own mouth.

“I… I know that you like Saki-kun, and you’re lovely, so you’d suit each other well. It’s not really my place to say anything against it…”

Before he could finish speaking, there was a loud smack to his left cheek.

It made him slightly dizzy.

Izumi cradled the hand that he had used to hit Michio to his chest. “I won’t apologize! You’re an idiot!” he yelled, jumping into his bed, fully clothed.

Michio touched his cheek, thinking that the one who had done the hitting seemed to be in more pain than the one who was hit. He had hurt him. He had made Izumi cry…

*****

“Ah, experiments are such a pain in the ass.”

The sixth period science class was in the science lab doing an experiment involving sediment. They took the sample they were gathering data on, and used the Bunsen burners to dissolve it into a solution in their test tube. Then, they had to put it in a test tube stand, and note down any changes every five minutes. It was an incredibly simple task, and used nothing dangerous, so the science teacher, Ishikawa Yoshiaki, was sitting with his legs crossed in his chair, humming and watching the PE class out on the school grounds.

“Hey, Yoshizawa, take down our data, too,” Yamashita said from his slouched position at the next group’s table. “Hey, answer me.”

Heh. He had long legs. Not like a Japanese person, really. Kids nowadays had pretty good figures. Tall, too. Not fair.

The twenty-seven year old Ishikawa was thinking along these lines. He came to this school in April, and was still getting used to communal living. Everything was interesting, and he felt more like a guest than a teacher. That wasn’t a good thing, of course.

“Leave him alone, Yamashita,” Izumi, a member of Yamashita’s group said, fed up.

“I said leave it to me. Yoshizawa is nice, so I’m sure he’ll do our bit, too.”

Yoshizawa looked at Izumi, troubled.

“Yoshizawa, our group is fine, so you help them out,” somebody said, annoyed. But Yoshizawa didn’t nod. Izumi’s eyes were telling him not to agree.

“Sorry, Yamashita-kun, but I can’t help you,” Michio refused.

Yamashita stood up, astonished.

“Who the hell do you think you are!?”

This was usually where the teacher would step in to break things up, but the guest-like Ishikawa just watched to see how things progressed. Boys fought at any school. That’s how they deepened their bonds of friendship. Ishikawa had experienced it himself. Anyway, there was no sulfuric or hydrochloric acid being used today, so there wasn’t anything to worry about.

“Heh, he’s pretty brave.”

Yamashita had been thrown for a loop being flatly refused by Yoshizawa, who was known for never refusing anyone. He had been refused in front of his classmates. It was embarrassing.

Yamashita kicked his chair behind him, and grabbed Michio by the front of his shirt, pulling it up.

“Don’t fuck with me,” he cursed, forming a fist. Yoshizawa, though, fought back.

He suddenly pulled Yamashita’s leg out from under him, causing him to lose his balance and fall to the floor, noisily knocking chairs out of the way.

“Yeah!”

“Good job, Yoshizawa!”

Students were calling out in delight. All Michio could think was ‘now he’d done it.’ Yamashita’s eyes as he used a chair to push himself up were truly angry.

He came at Michio, fists flying. Michio grabbed his wrist and deflected the blow, but Yamashita wasn’t being careless anymore. He immediately regained his balance, and punched Michio once with all his power behind it. Michio dropped his weight, tensed his abs, and stopped the punch with the palm of his hand. ---It looked like it should have broken some bones.

Yamashita just kept pressing on. At this rate, Michio would hit his limit. He was using all of his strength just to hold Yamashita off. Yamashita suddenly sprang away with a yell, slamming into a lab table.

Crash, bang, clang!!

Lab equipment went flying as Yamashita slid across the top of the table.

That was when, with incredibly bad luck, a test tube broke on the floor, cutting the hand of Izumi, who had been standing nearby. In the blink of an eye, blood welled up and ran down the white hand.

Izumi just watched the red drop in shock. His knees crumpled beneath him. The class was in an uproar. Nobody was paying any attention to Michio or Yamashita anymore.

“Call an ambulance! Health committee members!” the class representative, Nogawa, yelled. But someone else had already reacted faster than the health committee member. He caught the slumping Izumi up in his arms like a hero, and flew out of the science room with him, faster than a puff of wind.

“Was that… Yoshizawa?” Nogawa asked the classmate standing next to him. He asked even though he already knew the answer, it was that out of the blue. Everyone was in shock. And the one who looked the most dumbfounded was, of course, Yamashita.

*****

“Sensei! Emergency!” Yoshizawa ran across the short walkway that connected buildings one and two, still carrying the limp Izumi, and into the nurse’s office. But the school nurse, Nakayama, was nowhere to be seen. “Hey, why isn’t he here at a time like this?”

Well, there was no point in complaining, Michio resolved.

“Yoshizawa…” Izumi implored as he was deposited on the examination table.

“Well, let’s do first aid, at least. Let me see.” Michio pulled Izumi’s hand gently towards himself. Izumi averted his eyes from the bloody hand. “I can’t see the cut like this. Let’s wash the blood off. This might hurt.”

Izumi shut his eyes tightly and nodded.

“We’re fine as long as there’s no glass in the cut still…”

After fetching disinfectant, tweezers and some cotton from the cabinet, Michio knelt on the floor and made quick work of rinsing off the wound.

Izumi bit his lip hard. His hand was trembling.

“Looks like we’re good. It bled a lot, but it’s not actually that deep a cut.” The cut ran diagonally near his wrist, about four centimeters long. “There’s no glass there, either.” Michio examined the wrist carefully.

“Really?” Izumi seemed relieved to hear that, and finally looked at his own wrist. Indeed, Michio was right. The cut wasn’t very deep. “Well, that’s good.”

Getting a little ahead of himself, he moved the hand about, causing blood to well up from the cut again.

“Yoshizawa! It’s bleeding.” Izumi’s face was screwed up as if he were about to cry.

“Of course it is.” Michio put some of the medicine that Nakayama used to stop light bleeding on some gauze, and pressed it lightly against the cut. He then covered that with a piece of oiled paper, and wrapped a bandage around it all.

“Yoshizawa, were you on the health committee before?”

“No. I’ve accompanied a lot of people here before, though. Why?”

“You seem good at it.”

“Ah. I have two little brothers and two little sisters. They’re all pretty rambunctious, so there are always a lot of injuries. That’s why I can do basic first aid, at least.”

“Hmm. I see.”

“Do you have any siblings?”

“Just me.”

Michio raised his head. Izumi’s seated position put him higher than the kneeling Michio, so he was looking up at him for a change.

“You’re an only child?”

“Don’t I seem like it? I’m selfish and willful. I’m the perfect example of an only child.”

“That’s not true. ---There, all done. Let’s have Nakayama-sensei look at it when he gets back.”

“Do you really think so?”

“Of course we should. Just because a wound isn’t deep doesn’t mean it can’t be dangerous.”

“I’m not talking about the cut.” Izumi touched Michio’s cheek with his bandaged hand. Michio stiffened. “Yoshizawa…” Izumi whispered, sliding off his chair towards Michio.

As well as he had been able to stop Yamashita’s punch, he wasn’t able to stop the slender Izumi. They both tumbled to the floor. But this time, Michio didn’t push Izumi away. He held him tightly, lovely shoulder blades and all, as they fell.

“I like you, Yoshizawa. I like you,” Izumi whispered, pressing their cheeks together.

“Takabayashi-kun…”

“But you say horrible things. It’s your own fault if I hit you.”

“Sorry. I’m sorry.” Sorry he was so undependable.

“Do you think you were wrong?”

“Completely.”

“Then kiss me as an apology.”

Michio was speechless. ---Kiss? By ‘kiss’, did he mean an actual kiss?

Without waiting for a reply from Michio, Izumi dreamily closed his eyes. He was waiting with his eyes closed, like Sleeping Beauty waiting for her prince in the thorn-covered castle, under a spell.

It wouldn’t be manly to back down now! Michio prepared himself. He’d always cherished this boy. He was so special, so cherished, that he was too head over heels for him to actually lay a hand on him.

“It’s my first kiss, so I won’t be any good at it,” Michio made to refuse, but Izumi opened his eyes a slit and laughed lightly.

“Nobody’s good at first.”

That wasn’t something worth worrying about. The important thing was that it was Yoshizawa doing it.

Sensing Izumi’s feelings, Michio felt something finally release in his heart. Izumi was popular. He surely had experience with kissing at least, and to be honest, Michio had been a little worried that his total lack of experience would be looked down on.

Michio drew Izumi close. Staring intently at Izumi’s lips so as to not lose his way, he brought his face closer.

Just before their lips met, they heard a familiar pitter-pat of slippers hurrying down the hall towards them.

Michio stood up quickly, and Izumi opened his eyes.

“It’s Nakayama-sensei…”

Michio glared at the door in resentment and heaved a sigh.

*****

“Sorry, I’m late! Nakayama-sensei asked me to help… huh?”

People were usually crowded together in the small club room (there were a lot of guys who joined to get close to Takabayashi, of course.) Today, though, the only person there was a guy he didn’t know, sitting on the table, looking at a photobook of constellations, though he turned to look when Izumi entered.

“The astronomy club members all went to the photography club’s room to develop the photos they took for their spring break projects.” The tall boy, who must be at least 185cm, stood up from the desk. “Hmm. Are you Takabayashi-kun? You’re even prettier than I heard. You’d beat a fairytale princess as a partner.” He came over to stand in front of Izumi.

Izumi glared up at him, annoyed.

“Well, thanks. I don’t think I’ve seen you before. Who are you?”

“Me? I’m Itami Tokoro.”

“That’s an unusual name. Are you really a student here?”

“I am. I’m a transfer student, though. I just started this month.”

“Ah, you’re from the other school.”

Shidou Academy had a sister school with basically the same name that was smack dab in the middle of the city. Though it also had a dorm, most of the students lived at home. There was a rumor that so many of the fifty dorm rooms were empty, that the dorm was basically used for storage. The schools were set up so that you could transfer between the two if you wanted to. They just transferred your paperwork, and there was no test. The only condition was that there had to be an unavoidable reason to do so. In this age of convenience, was there really a chance of such a reason existing?

When Izumi looked at him suspiciously, Tokoro posed, seemingly misunderstanding.

“I’d heard that there were a lot of beautiful boys here, and I see they were right. Hey, go on a date with me this Sunday. ---Ow!” Tokoro pressed both hands to his left cheek.

“Don’t say stupid things. You’re over-confident! Look in the mirror before you ask me out, you ass!” Izumi spat out, turning on his heel.

“Hold on, time out.” Tokoro moved around in front of Izumi again. “Sorry, but I have confidence in my face.”

“Is that so. I’m happy for you.”

He may have been considered attractive at his old school, but compared to Gii, he was about five levels down, Izumi murmured internally.

“And another thing, however I may look, I’m your upperclassman.”

“So?”

There wasn’t that much difference between second and third years.

“You should respect your elders!” he said, suddenly grabbing Izumi’s shoulders and kissing him harshly.

Slap!!

The sound echoed in the stone hallway.

“Don’t mess around with me! You are a total jerk!” Izumi scrubbed at his lips with his fist. “Get the hell back to your old school!”

After shouting down at Tokoro where he had fallen to the floor from the force of the slap, Izumi quickly made his way down the hallway towards the photography club’s room.

Tokoro, who had been sitting dazed after getting hit twice by someone he had just met, snapped out of it a while after Izumi had disappeared from sight and started laughing madly.

“Nice. Just as Iizuka said. An angel with his nose up in the air. Takabayashi Izumi, huh? I think I have a chance, there.” He stood up happily. “The rumors said that he was pretty experienced, but he looks like a virgin to me. What luck.”

Tokoro grinned and nearly skipped down the hall towards the photography club’s room.

*****

“I said I don’t like it! If I don’t like it, I don’t like it!” Izumi stood up, his chair clanging, and hit the table with both hands. “You have no right to boss me around, Yoshizawa!” he shouted at Yoshizawa, who was sitting beside him, looking up at him in distress.

“He’s at it again. Anybody who gets roomed with the selfish princess is one unlucky guy,” somebody said, laughing.

“Seriously. And when that guy is a super people-pleaser, he’ll get totally dominated.”

“I think you meant that he’ll be used.”

“You could call it that,” the boy laughed.

Akaike Shouzou, who had been listening to this exchange quietly while eating, suddenly reached out his arm, grabbed the pepper shaker, and shook it in the direction of the speakers.

“Geh! Achoo! Choo!” they started sneezing violently. “What the hell are you doing!?”

“Oh, sorry. My hand slipped,” Shouzou said coolly. The boys, who had made fists in their anger, seemed to realize that they were also in the wrong, and hid their fists under the table, laughing weakly.

“No, choo! It could happen to, achoo! Anyone, achoo!”

“Thanks,” he brushed it off, returning to his meal.

“But still, Takabayashi-kun, even if you do hate carrots, it’s a waste to leave them all uneaten. They’re good for you, so you should at least eat one…”

“Shut up! I’m done!” Izumi blew up, leaving his tray on the table as he stomped out of the cafeteria.

“He only ate half of it.” Gii had turned up at Michio’s side at some point.

“Saki-kun…” Michio slouched, weakly.

“He’s sure in a bad temper tonight. Did something happen?”

“I’m not sure. He’s been like that since he got back from club. He yells if you get too close or try to touch him. I think something must have happened during club…”

“Are you done eating?” Michio’s plate was mostly cleaned.

“That should hold me till morning.”

“Okay, let’s do this.” Gii took Izumi’s tray and piled the salad on top of the slice of bread, then topped it off with the piece of fried fish. “And then the bit he forgot to eat.”

He hid a piece of carrot under the fish.

He held out the finished plate to Michio.

“Take this back to him.”

“But, we aren’t allowed to take plates…”

“It’ll be fine as long as you bring it back in the morning.”

“Thanks.” Michio smiled in relief and took the plate with the open-faced sandwich on it from Gii.

“Go get him, loverboy,” Gii teased, and Michio laughed, blushing.

Michio hurried back towards his dorm room, careful not to drop the plate. He had no idea what had put Izumi in such a bad mood. He had been in such a good mood after class, indeed, up until club started.

Nakayama-sensei had figured out what they had been up to. They had hurriedly sat in the chairs and acted like they were applying the bandage, but he had given them a sidelong look as he entered the room.

“You’re about ten years too young to be getting frisky in the nurse’s office,” he teased. They tried to deny it, flustered, but Nakayama-sensei just strode over to them and patted at their backs. “Rooms on this side of the building are no good. The floors get awfully dusty.”

He was very observant.

“I was on my way over to building two to try some of the Darjeeling tea that Naganami-sensei brought back from Belgium with him, when, just as I was crossing the ‘Great Wall of China’, Ishikawa-sensei came running up, all panicked. Just between us, but he had been trying to follow you here and got lost. He told me there had been an injury during an experiment. I hurried back, but it seems like I wasn’t really needed,” Nakayama-sensei said after quickly unwrapping Izumi’s hand and examining the wound. “If I knew that Yoshizawa was the one that brought you here, I wouldn’t have run so fast. As usual, Shidou is the school that makes new teachers cry. He really took the long way around, going across the Great Wall. No wonder he got turned around. ---There. I give your first aid 100 percent. Come back tomorrow so we can change the gauze.”

“Thank you very much,” they both said, bowing their heads.

“Wait a second. I’ll keep what you two were up to from the other teachers, so you take care of this for me.” He took out the forms from the physical check they had done the other day. “Figure out the average weight and height for each grade and class, and put them on this graph here. Here, a calculator.”

Michio and Izumi just looked at each other, then sat down and got to work.

They ended up missing cleaning duty and the closing remarks. Afterwards, Ishikawa-sensei and their homeroom teacher had come to check on them, worried that the wound was worse than thought, but Nakayama-sensei managed to settle it skillfully.

When they finished up and returned to their classroom, there was nobody there. Michio gathered up Izumi’s stuff, then they headed to their clubs, late. At that point, Izumi was in an extremely good mood. His only complaint was that Nakayama-sensei had shown up just when it was getting good.

Michio knocked, then opened the door. The room was pitch black.

“Takabayashi-kun? You here?” he asked, but there was no answer. He turned on the lights, but Izumi was nowhere to be seen in the suddenly bright room. “Where did he go?”

Michio set the plate with the open-faced sandwich on it on Izumi’s desk, then went and got his change purse out of his own desk. It may be April, but it still got pretty cold at night in the mountains, so he pulled a corduroy jacket off its hanger on the wall, turned off the lights, and went out into the hall.

He thought he might know where Izumi was.

*****

Leaving the dorm, where everyone was enthusiastically enjoying the few hours before curfew, Michio changed into his outdoor shoes and crossed the windy grounds towards the Student Hall next to Building One. Izumi had a habit of chugging black tea when he was despairing over something. There were a number of vending machines around campus, but in order to have a greater variety, they were all from different companies. The only one that had lemon tea was the one in the Student Hall.

The change in his pocket was clinking as he walked. Michio would stay with Izumi as long as his change lasted.

As he was hurrying across the grounds, somebody suddenly embraced him from behind.

Michio was paralyzed with fright.

“…Yoshizawa…”

Hearing that voice, Michio relaxed his tense body. Not only that, but he was incredibly happy, and it was no wonder his expression softened.

“Were you waiting for me?”

Izumi silently nodded, pressed to Michio’s back.

“I’m sorry about before… Getting hysterical.”

“I don’t mind. More importantly, aren’t you cold in just that vest? I brought my jacket, so you should put it on.”

Izumi unwrapped his arms from around Michio’s chest.

Michio draped the jacket over Izumi’s shoulders, whose head was hanging in embarrassment. 

“You want to drink lemon tea, right? I’ll have some, too.”

“Yeah.”

Izumi trailed after Michio as he walked to the Student Hall.

“Hey, Yoshizawa?”

“Hm?”

“I know it’s my own fault, but I’m hungry.”

“Right?” Michio laughed, turning around. “There’s an open sandwich back in the room. Let’s have one cup, then go back and eat.”

Izumi’s eyes shone for a moment, then he looked down again in embarrassment.

“Thanks…” he gripped Michio’s shirt sleeve. It was adorable, as was the fact that it looked like he was being swallowed by Michio’s large jacket. He couldn’t stand it, and gave in and hugged him.

When Izumi looked up at him in surprise, Michio decided he didn’t care if somebody interrupted them this time, and kissed him.

He was momentarily distracted by how soft Izumi’s lips were and pulled away, but was brought back by the arms that had wrapped around his neck.

\---It was long for a first kiss. For Izumi, though, who had been waiting for it seemingly forever, it felt like it was over in the blink of an eye. When their lips separated, he closed his eyes again. He finally had that snowflake in the palm of his hand, and he wanted to see it again.

Michio responded. As though confirming the sweet softness of Izumi’s lips, he slowly, slowly kissed him again, whispering ‘I love you’ in his heart.

*****

“Hey, Yoshizawa! Takabayashi! Wait up!” somebody called out to them from far away, when they were nearly at the Student Hall. They stopped and turned around.

“Who was that?” Izumi asked.

“Who, indeed,” Michio answered.

“That’s not an answer. Whoever it is, this is no good,” Izumi said quietly, unwrapping his arm from around Michio’s. 

The grounds were very dark after they turned off the lights on the rugby and soccer fields for the evening, leaving only the moonlight to light their way. Even if their eyes had gotten used to the darkness, dark was dark, and all they could see was the silhouette of someone running towards them from the direction of the cafeteria.

“Ah, it’s Akaike-kun,” Michio burst out.

“Eh? How can you tell?” Izumi asked.

“I can see his face,” Michio said matter-of-factly, but Izumi couldn’t see that clearly. He was confident in his eyesight, being a member of the Astronomy Club.

In elementary school, they had been asked to observe the night sky for science class, and he had been able to identify tiny stars that nobody else could see. Of course, the fact that his father, who worked at an astronomical observatory, had taught him about the stars’ placements helped, but Izumi would never forget the feeling he had when he saw those tiny sparkles.

“Yoshizawa, what’s your eyesight?”

“Both eyes are 1.5.”

Izumi’s were both 2.0.

“That means that my eyes are better, so why? Is that possible?”

“Why are you getting mad?”

While Izumi had been pouting, the silhouette had taken form. ---It was Akaike Shouzou!

Izumi looked back and forth between Michio and Shouzou, groaning. He hung his head and muttered under his breath in dissatisfaction. 

“It’s nothing… More importantly, what do you want, Akaike-kun?”

Shouzou was out of breath. He had probably been running around asking for them.

“Message from Gii. Yoshizawa, Yamashita’s got it in for you, so watch out.”

Izumi suddenly looked up at that.

“Yamashita does!? Why? If it’s about the thing in the science room, it was Yamashita’s fault. It has nothing to do with Yoshizawa! He was the victim!” he glared up at Shouzou.

“I have no idea why,” Shouzou brushed off Izumi’s glare. “What happened in the science room?” he asked in response. Michio explained briefly, and Shouzou hummed.

“Even his resentment is over the top. Geez, those guys are all full of themselves. They’re just asking for trouble,” Izumi grumbled. His speech really didn’t match his pretty face. If he was just standing quietly, he gave off a sweet vibe, like cotton candy. Even knowing he was a boy, you ended up wanting to call him a ‘young lady’. “Bring it on! If he does anything to Yoshizawa, I’ll kick his ass… Okay?” Izumi fisted his hands and looked up at the taller Michio.

Michio smiled wryly and said, “Thanks.” He appreciated the thought at least, though he didn’t say as much out loud.

“Anyway, he might fight dirty, so it doesn’t hurt to be careful. You’re headed for some tea in the Student Hall, right? I’m thirsty, too. Let’s go.” Shouzou urged them on towards the Hall.

Shouzou sighed once he had his back to them. He actually felt a little bad for Yamashita. This guy had no clue Yamashita liked him. He was so used to being liked, that he didn’t give any thought to the other party’s feelings. Yamashita was hurt. There was no way that Yamashita wasn’t regretting the fact that he caused his precious, more precious than life, Izumi to get injured. It was easy to see that he was so ‘down’ that he’d nearly reached magma. And it was all the impertinent Michio’s fault in his eyes. The fact that Izumi hated him, and the fact that he was so down, were all Michio’s fault.

“Well, I’m sure it’s unjustified resentment…” That is to say, he could sympathize with him. Yamashita was so in love with Izumi that it was pathetic. That thing on move-in day, too. Yamashita was totally against it, but ended up doing what Izumi wanted him to, to get him closer to Gii.

He did it all for Izumi. To make Izumi happy.

“It really is pathetic.”

And Izumi said he would kick Yamashita’s ass. Ah, unrequited love was a sad thing. Not having your feelings returned was always hard, no matter what era you were living in.

When Shouzou pushed open the sliding door to the Student Hall with a rattle, he suddenly stopped in trepidation. The two following him ran into his back.

“Umph! What’s wrong, Akaike…” Michio trailed off when he noticed Yamashita and a few of his cronies sitting along one wall, talking. Speak of the devil, or whatever you should say when you're the one who did the ‘appearing’.

Next to Michio, who had gone tense on seeing Yamashita, Izumi also tensed, looking in the other direction. There was a group of third years laughing around the vending machine. One of them was the Astronomy Club president, Iizuka Yoshifumi, the second was the Archery Club captain, Kudou Yousuke. The third was the untimely transfer student, Itami Tokoro.

Izumi instantly grabbed Michio’s shirt. He turned, thinking Izumi was trying to get his attention, and was met with his tense profile as he stared at the three by the vending machine.

“Very sensible, Schauspielerin, bringing Yoshizawa with you,” Kudou called out loudly. Michio briefly nodded at him.

“Good evening,” he greeted the upperclassman.

“Takabayashi, you have good timing. Come over here and help us decide on a plan for our Golden Week club camp. Isn’t there somewhere you want to go? I’ll take it into account,” Iizuka beckoned.

“I won’t be going, so please decide by yourselves,” Izumi blatantly refused.

“Hey, that’s not very friendly,” Kudou laughed, slapping his legs.

Iizuka had been trying to push Izumi and Tokoro together for his own amusement. For some reason, Kudou had also joined in on the plan.

What a tasteless bunch! Izumi tut-tutted at them in his head.

Tokoro walked in between Iizuka and Kudou, and came over as if they were old friends.

“Our Schauspielerin is lovely as ever this evening. ---Thanks for earlier,” he grinned meaningfully. Izumi angrily ignored him. 

“Yoshizawa, let’s sit over there.” He pulled on Michio’s arm.

“Takabayashi-kun, you aren’t going to get any tea?” Michio asked, since Izumi was headed away from the vending machine.

“I’m not in the mood. I don’t want any.”

He’d remembered that forced kiss. He wanted to kick this guy’s ass, too!

The student hall was relatively lively with students who had finished dinner early, but there weren’t that many people who bothered making the 150 meter trek from the dorm to the Hall after dinner. There were many seats available, and they chose some by a window. They had a good view of the night from there.

Shouzou separated from them and sat near the door. Beyond them to the right were Yamashita and his friends. To the left was Tokoro’s group. Shouzou had a feeling that something might happen, so he chose a spot it would be easy to spring into action from.

“What are you going to do now?” Iizuka chuckled, gesturing at Izumi with his eyes.

“Of course I can’t just leave it at that.” Tokoro put a coin in the vending machine, pushing the button for black tea. He took the cup in hand and headed over towards Izumi.

Michio could feel Yamashita’s group’s stares burning into his back, but was vigilantly watching the overly-familiar Tokoro as he approached. Those arrogant sparkling eyes that Michio hated. He was probably the reason behind Izumi’s irritability.

“Yoshizawa-kun, right? Sorry, but could you leave us alone for a bit?” Tokoro hesitated just a second before sitting down beside Izumi, as though he had heard of Michio’s reputation. True, if this was the usual Michio, he probably would have moved as asked.

Iizuka and Kudou were still over by the vending machine, grinning in this direction with folded arms.

“Izumi-kun, don’t look away from me so blatantly. Look over here. ---It’s no good. I can’t forget about our kiss.”

Suddenly, a chair clanged loudly. Tokoro looked up at Michio in surprise.

“Hey, hey, don’t scare me like that. You should stand up more quietly. Your roommate is pretty boorish, huh. Maybe you should ask to change.”

“It’s none of your business!” Izumi yelled, but Michio was even faster, grabbing Tokoro.

“Wh…what are you doing!?”

“Stop messing around. If you want to play your little love games, do it somewhere else. We don’t have time for such things.”

Kudou interrupted the tense Michio, “Yoshizawa, think about what you're doing. If you cause trouble before the preliminaries…”

“Shut up!” Michio roared at Kudou.

Of course the preliminaries were important. It was a dream come true to have a chance as a second year. But if he thought he could use it as an excuse to make him let this go, then he was naïve. Michio couldn’t forgive what Tokoro had done to Izumi. He had realized just now that the reason for Izumi’s bad mood was that Tokoro had kissed him. He couldn’t forgive someone who hurt Izumi, even if it was an upperclassman who he wasn’t supposed to even talk back to.

“You should give up. I have a black belt in karate,” Tokoro bragged.

“Is that so? Good for you. That means you might be able to block me.”

Without waiting, he delivered a punch to Tokoro’s jaw. Tokoro flew through the air and landed in a heap on the Hall’s floor.

The power of that right straight, and Michio’s intensity, had everyone silently holding their breath. Even Shouzou was no different.

“I want you to leave Takabayashi-kun alone. Do you understand?” that voice that Izumi had fallen in love with echoed coldly. His beloved Michio, who was so polite that he even added the –kun to his name when he was this angry, was completely reliable when push came to shove.

Izumi gazed at Michio raptly.

Tokoro, who Iizuka had run over to help up, was holding his jaw, eyes watering as if he were about to cry.

“Iizuka. My tooth. My tooth is broken. I think my jaw might be, too…”

It seemed him being a black belt was just a bluff.

“Okay, let’s go see Nakayama-sensei. Can you walk?”

Kudou looked at Michio with an conflicted expression before following Iizuka, who was supporting Tokoro, out of the Hall.

The Hall was still silent. Nobody knew what to say to Michio, who was still standing in an imposing stance even after they were out of sight. It was like all the words had flown out of their heads.

“He’s shocked me twice today,” Yamashita muttered. “He’s been hiding that strength of his. Not fair.”

“What do you want to do? We came up with a plan and everything,” one of his friends complained, and Yamashita looked up at the ceiling in exasperation.

“Cancel the plan. I hate dentists.”

He gave up. There hadn’t been only two things that shocked him that day. Izumi had leapt up from his chair with red cheeks and hugged Michio. The surprised Michio had panicked a bit, showing off his famed timidity by turning as red as a boiled octopus, waved his arms around wildly, yelled when one of them hit a chair, and made the entire Hall explode with laughter.

About half of the twenty or so laughing students, though, would be reflecting on their own memories and bitter feelings about unrequited love and broken hearts. If he could change Izumi, who was so prideful that he was nicknamed ‘actress’ in German and even Gii couldn’t deal with him, while being so nice and also seemingly undefeatable, everyone approved.

*****

In the summer, Michio, who had blown everyone away at the preliminaries, won the prefectural tournament by a hair. It really was an impressive showing. Behind that win, though (according to Gii), was an event that happened secretly that cheered him on. Of course, it was between Michio and the lovely Schauspielerin.

He couldn’t go into detail, since whatever happened happened over summer break, but at the beginning of September, their neighbor, Katakura Toshihisa, heard something interesting. On move-in day, as he was unpacking Izumi’s belongings as usual, Michio clearly asked, “Izumi, where do you want this book?”


End file.
